First Sign of Spring: The March Pessimist

Yesterday, I saw the leaves of a pansy within my foundation plantings. My daughter and I were returning from a walk and the green leaves glistened at us. I find it strange that this is the first sign of spring I have seen. We still have a foot of snow on the ground, yet it slowly melts away from the driveway and walkways. Wasn't I supposed to see a crocus first? I was left excited and at the same time unsatisfied with my first sign of spring. The ground is still cold -- brown and white predominate. When I looked closer at it, small green leaves were sprouting up. Weeds?!!!! I get to start with weeds?!!!! "Well, weeds do mean I will be able to work the soil soon," I tell myself.

Then I start thinking about chemicals...I was up last night thinking (worrying?) about the new vegetable garden I'm planning. As the snow creeps away from the driveway I notice that the grass is green. It is not supposed to be green yet! In autumn, I canceled the lawn service my husband convinced me to get a year ago. I imagine the chemicals infiltrating the lawn, my perennials, my (organic?) gardens. I worry about those chemicals in the vegetable garden that doesn't exist yet. When I turn over the grass to prepare a plot, surely I will not find worms in there. Surely they have run to the neighbors brown lawn, making the soil beautiful for any organic gardening he has planned. I have ruined my plan for expanded chemical free goodies that will feed my family all through the season. Curses chemical lawn services! And what about all of the salt we dumped on the driveway this winter? What about those invasive vines that were strangling the trees in my forest? Did I get rid of them? Did I kill the trees too with the chemicals I felt I had to use to get rid of those rotten things that I couldn't pull up?

The snow won't melt fast enough. I"ll never get the gazebo repainted this year. Now what were those new bulbs I planted and where did I put them? I"m sure that the chipmunks will get to them before I ever get to see them....maybe that is why I haven't seen a crocus yet. They ate them!

The March pessimist comes around every year. My gardens will never be perfect. Last year 8 grasses that decorated my yard died. I almost lost the hollies. The gardens still went on. I replaced the grasses with other plants. I anticipate the growing season with great excitement, but I must wait almost another two months until things are really under way. It gives me time to reflect on the past mistakes and worry about their effects on the future of my garden. I learn more every year. Come mid-April the snow should be totally gone. It's really not the long from now. (Then again, a month is 1/12th of a year. when you look at it that way it does seem like a long time. HARUMPPPH!)

I promise beautiful colorful sunny pictures tomorrow. I"ll put the March pessimist in her place.

I want a greenhouse!

Today I want a greenhouse! I want it now! The snow came back. It wasn't supposed to come back. This past weekend, I told my husband that spring was on the way and he laughed at me. "There will be more snow," he said. We had some nice melting going on, despite the two feet remaining on the ground. I was hopeful...Then, I opened my eyes this morning. SNOW! And to top it off, it snowed all morning. Okay, so it didn't stick well and we don't have to plow. But it did snow and I am incensed. I am done, done, done with snow. (Do not laugh at me mother! You who live in Florida. Just wait until August and then I will be the one laughing. HA!)

So, I want a greenhouse. My husband says that it is cheaper than moving. (I've been hinting at wanting to move to Hawaii, but he refuses to respond to me on that one. Perhaps though this "hint" was what made him more open-minded to a greenhouse...hmmm)

I received my bio-domes from Parks Seeds last week, but they are certainly not the same as a greenhouse. The idea of the bio-dome is lovely and in actuality I'm sure it will be remarkable, starting my veggies indoors this year and giving them a leg up on the growing season...but imagine walking into a glass house, ripe with the scents of soil and plants. This house would be filled with the aura of happy plants, growing despite the snow on the ground. The sun would always shine on my greenhouse. I could grow herbs all year long! I could even put a rose bush in there (couldn't I?)

I've heard of a wide variety of greenhouses and methods for getting one:

1. salvaging old windows to fabricate one's own design from scratch (I'm not talented enough to do that, but maybe my ever-so handsome and talented husband could if I can pull him away from his plane building. Did I mention how handsome he is and what a wonderful husband he is? Flattery will get one anywhere.)

2. acting too busy to even consider finding my own greenhouse / acting sooo busy that my friends feel sorry for me and decide to surprise me one day when I get home with a greenhouse that they bought and put together for me. (One of the gardeners I interviewed for my book said this happened to her, but I think she really was too busy and she was away from home a lot more than I am....hmmm.)

3. Finding a greenhouse on Craig's list that someone is so anxious to get rid of that they sell it to me dirt cheap AND offer to put it up for me.

4. Winning this week's powerball that is valued at over $200,000,000 and moving to Hawaii...